In 1843 the state school money, the receipts from liquor licenses and
the money received from the Bergen Township funds were appropriated
for the Public School, then first called School No. 1. It was still
held in the Town House. The primary pupils paid fifty cents a quarter,
in the higher branches the fees were one dollar a quarter. Where the
pupils were unable to pay, their dues were charged against the public
funds. In 1847 a new school house was erected in York street, west of
Washington street. It still forms the central portion of the present
school building which has just been remodeled and rebuilt, and is now
a very beautiful structure. In 1848 the school was opened with Mr.
Linsley as principal, who is said to have organized at School No. 1
"the first Normal School in the country," possibly in this state, but
in 1840 there was a Normal School at Camden, Oneida County, New York.
[Illustration: NEW CITY HALL, JERSEY CITY.]